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. 2012 May 21;33(6):297–305. doi: 10.1016/j.it.2012.04.006

Figure 2.

Figure 2

Development and structure of tertiary lymphoid structures. (a) During chronic immune responses or transplant rejection, DCs continuously present antigens to T and B cells. Activated B cells express LTβ and can act as potent LTi-like cells, to induce an LTo phenotype in local myofibroblasts. Alternatively, chronic antigen presentation by DCs might also lead to induction of a Th17 cell response that can also induce TLOs through unclear mechanisms. Th17 cells are held in place via interactions with podoplanin. (b) As in SLOs, TLOs are divided into discrete B and T cell areas. Although, fully formed TLO structures often contain only a single T cell area and a larger B cell area, in which GC reactions can be seen. These also contain DCs and FDCs. At the periphery, an elaborate network of lymphatics (Lyve1+ and Prox1+) is commonly found but it is currently unknown if these are afferent or efferent lymphatics.